Mysteries of Amgarrak
The Mysteries of Amgarrak is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign which will be both played in and DM'd by Kyr. The campaign is set high in the mountains in a dwarven kingdom, and the vast majority of the campaign will take place underground. Back Story Amgarrak, the lost city, built thousands of years ago as a testament to the strength of the Dwarven Empire. It was said to have taken up the inside of a mountain, lit by the magma the dwarves so masterfully used as both light, a power source, and art. They artfully channeled the magma throughout the city, using it to give its statues a new kind of splendor, one which seemed unreal even to them and caused the city's name to echo throughout the world as a mythical symbol of grandeur and splendor. And then it was lost. The dwarves' massive underground empire spanned throughout a continent, and became completely undefendable. They relied on their fearsome reputation as powerful warriors with the ability to employ a mysterious power, which outsiders called "Magic", to ward off potential invaders, and did so successfully. But they fell to a threat which did not care, and that even their twelve all-seeing Deific Regents could not anticipate. The Warden of the Deep. The Deep Roads, the underground road network which connected the dwarves' empire together, suddenly erupted with armies of creatures unspeakable, who whenever captured would only scream "The Warden of the Deep shall bring your end, heathens!" Their first target was Amgarrak, the symbol of Dwarven Might. It fell almost instantly, becoming what is assumed to be the throne of the Warden of the Deep. The dwarves, still very powerful, resisted the Warden's endless hordes extremely well. They were confident, prideful even, that they could reclaim their fallen city. Their pride would be their undoing. After countless years of fighting, too proud to call for help from the surface, the dwarves were reduced to but a lone city. They have lost their mastery of their mysterious powers causing most of their kind have left their ancestral lands to live on the surface world without hope of survival. All but one of their Deific Regents have been slain or captured by the Warden, forever forced to serve him. Now, their last remaining Regent has finally revealed their plight to the surface world, up to this time completely unaware of the plague going through the dwarves' glorious empire. His plea was one of desperation, and has inspired many who would be heroes to come and fight for the Dwarves, to reclaim their lost empire. You are one such hero, but you have different ambitions. You wish to kill this so-called Warden of the Deep, and cut the plague at its source, becoming a hero to be spoken of in legends, to become a paragon of dwarven kind. Campaign Information This campaign, as stated in the intro, is set high in the mountains with the vast majority of it taking place underground, so plan accordingly. There is one thing that should have stood out to you in the back story: "... the ability to employ a mysterious power, which outsiders called 'Magic'" and " They have lost their mastery of their mysterious powers..." Now, "What could this possibly mean for the campaign?" you may wonder. I shall tell you: There is no such thing as "magic" or "psionics." That's right. You'll all be forced to use that rusty old longsword you've been keeping in the corner. To make this clear, I shall explain. No PC can use spells, powers, or spell-like abilities. Supernatural abilities are subject to DM's approval. In addition, there is no such thing as a "magical item" to everyone. AKA every longsword is as good as the next one, there is no such thing as "enhancement" or "enchantment." Don't think I'm clueless when I'm forcing you all to go through a campaign with generic equipment, though. I know better than to do that. The Vow of Poverty feat is not allowed in order to bypass this fact. All racial templates are forbidden. You are required to be a race, and nothing more. This is a non-evil campaign, simply because of the fact that you are all heroes who are trying to save the dwarves. Neutral or good alignments are allowed. The campaign is a 36 point-buy beginning at level 5 here is the point-buy system for everyone: 8 | 0 9 | 1 10 | 2 11 | 3 12 | 4 13 | 5 14 | 6 15 | 8 16 | 10 17 | 13 18 | 16 You start the game out with: -One basic weapon, not masterwork. Simple iron. -Leather Armor, not masterwork. -Three days' rations, a bedroll, and other basic supplies. Basic supplies are subject to my approval, and do not include potions. One final word: The progression in this campaign is entirely dependent upon the players. You find out what you find out by talking or by investigating the area. I am not here to hold your hand, and I am not going to guide you through areas. Your choices of how to go through it will impact what you guys gain or lose, what you guys run into, and what happens throughout the story. I am not responsible for any deaths of players. If you die, you die, and that is it. Skill ChangesCategory:Dungeons and DragonsCategory:DnD CampaignsCategory:Miscellaneous Heal Because of the lack of healing spells, Healing will be receiving a revamp(ire) hehehe. Just kidding. But seriously, it will be revamped. Heal will now be able to restore hitpoints as a full-round or standard action. In order to heal someone you must first make a Heal check, the results of this check will determine how effective your healing is. Heal may NOT be used on yourself. You can only attempt a Heal check in combat if no person involved is currently threatened by an opposing target. Out of encounters, you can only attempt to heal once every eight hours. This is to avoid everyone just healing willy-nilly and using this for free healing until they're fully healed. If you healed as a standard action: DC 10: Restore hitpoints equal to character level DC 15: Restore hitpoints equal to character level +5 DC 20: Restore hitpoints equal to character level times 1.5 DC 25: Restore hitpoints equal to twice your character level DC 30: Restore 25% of max health DC 35: Restore ability damage DC 40: Restore 50% of max health DC 50: restore 75% of max health DC 60: restore negative levels DC 75: Completely restore hitpoints DC 100: Complete heal as if effected by a restoration spell. If you heal as a full-round action: DC 15: Restore 25% of lost health DC 20: Restore half of lost health DC 30: restore ability damage DC 35: restore 75% of lost health DC 40: Restore hitpoints DC 45: Restore negative levels DC 50: Complete heal, as if effected by a restoration spell. You actually will not need very high heal skills this game, which is amusing. Instead, you will need to ensure that your heal skill is high enough to roll consistently enough to do well on a standard action roll. For instance, if someone at level 25, that has 160 hitpoints, takes 48 damage. You are level 25, if you roll a 26 on a standard action heal roll you actually wind up doing more than you would if you rolled a 32. My recommendation is you have one or two players who are capable of providing consistent healing, and then one person who dumps into the "Heal" skill in order to provide healing for more serious issues, such as poisons, ability damage, or negative levels, as well as being able to instantly restore hitpoints. In addition, the Heal skill will be how you prevent people from death in this game, instead of Revivify or Resurrection. Appraise If you roll high enough on an appraisal check, you will receive a praise from the DM. Ha ha. Corny jokes aside, this is what it does: Appraisal now no longer requires an epic-level check in order to tell if an item is magical or not. Instead, given your unfamiliarity with dwarven magic, you all are not used to the sort of feeling a magic item will grant you. As such, you find it easier to tell if something is magical, as it emits a strange tingly sensation which you are not accustomed to. Potions For the sake of this campaign, potions are considered alchemical in nature, and mixing them is an act of herbalism. List of potions available: Cure Light Wounds ''' '''Cure Moderate Wounds Cure Serious Wounds ''' '''Resist Energy (Type) 10 Resist Energy (Type) 20 Resist Energy (Type) 30 Endure Elements ' '''Remove Fear ' 'Aid ' '''Lesser Restoration Heroism Remove Disease Remove Paralysis Delay Poison ' '''Neutralize Poison ' 'Flame Arrow (oil) ' '''Good Hope In addition to these, I will be custom adding a potion: Potion of Healing: Functions like the "Heal" spell, curing any and all affliction, as well as restoring hitpoints equal to 10xlevel up to a maximum of 150 Cost: 4,000 gp All potions will be able to be made by ourselves through the Herbalism profession check. All potions are double their normal cost, except the Potion of Healing whose price is listed. However, all potions may be used twice. Using one swig of a potion is a standard action, using two is a full-round action. Taking a full-round action to use a potion which provides a numerical boosting effect aside from some form of restoration (the "Cure" spells, "Healing", and "Lesser Restoration", DOES NOT make the effect stack.